Paint applicator

ABSTRACT

An applicator for applying a liquid coating to a surface which abuts another surface which it is not desired to coat. The applicator is particularly adapted for painting various parts of window structures. The applicator comprises a reservoir having an outer wall, an inner wall spaced from the outer wall, side walls and end walls. The inner wall has apertures formed therein and the outer surfaces of the inner wall and the end walls are covered with an absorbent pad which becomes saturated with paint as the paint flows through the apertures in the inner wall. The portions of the pad which cover the end walls are made impenetrable by the paint by impregnating those portions with glue or a similar substance. The pad is of sufficient thickness to conform to minor convolutions of the surface. In the particular embodiments illustrated, the reservoir is of a generally L-shaped or inverted U-shaped cross section.

United States-Patent 1191 Portchester, NY. 10573 [22 I Filed: Aug 28,1972 21 Appl. No. 284,070

52 us. (:1 .L 401/9; 401/10, 401/196, 401/183; 511 mm A46b15/00 1 581Field of Search ..401/9, 10, 183,48, 131, 401/196, 203, 204, 190;15/230,11,;z10

561 References Cited UNlTEDSTATES PATENTS 8 1,003,050 9/1911 Redin.401/9 2,810,924 10/1957 Slingluff.... .'15/230.1l 2,919,455 l/l960Turner 401/9 2,823,402 2/1958 Phillips 401/10 3,713,744 l/l973 Sims401/183 X 2,662,269 12/1953 Nash 15/231011 Primary Examiner-LawrenceCharles Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Irons, Sears & Santorelli Johnson 1 5]M 21, 1974 I PAINT APPLICATOR [57] ABSTRACT Inventor: Charles Johnson,126 Wesley A e-t An applicator for applying a liquid coating to a sur 1face which abuts another surface which it is not dean inner wall spacedfrom the outer wall, side walls and end walls. The inner wall hasapertures formed therein and the outer surfaces of the inner wall andthe end walls are covered with an absorbent pad which becomes saturatedwith paint as the paint flows 'throughthe apertures in the inner wall.The portions of the pad which cover the end walls are made impenetrableby the paint by impregnating those portions with "glue or a similarsubstance. The pad is of sufficient thickness to conform to minorconvolutions of the surface In the particular embodiments illustrated,

the reservoir is of a generally L-shaped orinverted U- shaped crosssection.

6'Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PAINT APPLICATOR. BACKGROUND or THEINVENTION Field of the Invention I This invention relates to apparatusfor. the application of paint or other liquid, and more particularly toapaint applicator for .applying paint .to structures such as moldingstrips, window mullions, window sashes, and

other structural surfaces to be painted which abut sur-- Thus to paintwindow members and the like neatly and in a manner that does not requireextensive cleanup presently involves a very time-consuming process and arelatively highly skilled painter.- If the window frame is paintedwithout due care, an extensive cleanup period of scraping and the likeis required which often will consume more timethan more carefulpainting. Either alternative is very time consuming and thereforecostly.

Various alternatives to the. usual procedure are known and havebeenp'racticed which are either only partially successful or even moretime consuming. Thus, the surfaces which are to' be painted may bemasked withm'asking tape, or metalshields used to prevent the brushbristles from touching the. surfaces which should not be painted. Thelatter method, however, often results in the paint running under theshield and smearing on the surface which was not supposed to be painted.Furthermore, such shields require that the painter employ two hands inthe process and this is not very practical when painting on ladderswhere safety requires that the painter hold the ladder or othersupportwith one hand while painting withthe other. I

More'complex and generally impractical approaches 3,372,975 Johnsondiscloses a device designed for painting window sashes wherein areservoir is rotatably and is clearly Iimited'to use on largesurfaceareas such as greenhouses and is completely unsuitable for painting sashwindows. In fact, it is suitable only for substantially horizontallyoriented strips.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there isprovided a coating applicator, particularly a paint applicator, for

painting painting surfaces which adjoin surfaces which it is notin amanner'whichis easy and rapid without causing have been tried asindicated in the prior art to overcome. these problems. For example, U.S. Pat.'No.

attached to an applicatorhaving a triangular cross section and sidewalls with perforations therein. The side walls are covered'with'anabsorbent material for conducting paint to the window sash or frame andthe paint is revented from coming into contact with the windowpane byspacing the applicatorfrom the pane by a series of set 'screws'carriedin threaded sleeves passing through the applicator structure. The deviceof Johnson is obviously not suitable for painting rnullions or variousmolding strips and even in the case of window sashes requires very closeadjustment to prevent the applicator fromcontacting the pane or leavingan unpainted strip adjacent the pane.

In U. S. Pat. No. 2,247,622 Thompson, there is disclosed a device forapplying paint to narrow strips separating glass panels in greenhousestructures. The device of Thompson comprises a reservoir communicatingdownwardly with a paint receptacle which has an opening through whichbrushes extend downwardly for applying paint as the device moves acrossthe "bars. The device is complex, requires that it be wheeled about anypaint to be applied to surfaces which are not desired to be painted, forexample, the glass pane, and yet cover the sash or mullion surfaces veryclose to the pane of glass. The painting apparatus of the present invention is very simple in construction and easy to utilize, requiring nofine adjustments to prevent unwanted coating of surfaces such as thepane of glass.

The applicator of the present invention which is utilized for applying aliquid coating to a substrate comprises a reservoir for the liquidcoating material which reservoir has an outer wall, an inner wall spacedfrom the outer wall,.side walls and end walls The inner wall hasapertures formed in it to permit the liquid coating material to flowthrough to an absorbent applicator pad which is secured to the outersurfaces of the inner wall and the end walls. Portions of the absorbentpad cover ing'the end walls are made impermeable by the liquidcoatingmaterialby impregnating the areas with glue or other adhesive surfacewhich dries in the .end portion of the pad so as to prevent the liquidcoating material from penetrating that portion'of the pad. The reservoirBRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the accompanying drawing which formspart of the specification:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view partly in section of the deviceaccording tothe present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side view of an alternate embodiment of I the apparatus ofFIGS. 1, 2 and 6.

FIG. 4 is a side view partly in section of the applicator of FIG. 3applying paint to a window mullion, the mullion and pane of glass beingshown in section.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the applicator of FIG. 3applying paint to another window structure of different cross sectionfrom that of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a side plan view of the applicator of FIGS.

1 and 2 showing the application of paint to a window sash, the sash andwindowpane being shown in section.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The applicator of the presentinvention will be more clearly understood from'the following descriptionof specific embodiments which will serve to better illustrate the natureof my invention.

In FIG. 1 of the drawing, an applicator of the present invention isshown generally at 2. It comprises a reservoir 4 having an outer wall 6and an inner wall 12. The reservoir 4 has closed side walls 8 and 10.The inner wall 12 is provided with perforations 14 which allow the paintwhich is stored in the reservoir 4 to flow through to and saturate afeltlike material pad 30. The central portion of the reservoir 4communicates with the necked portion 16 having internal threads 18 intowhich the threads 22 on the neck of a supply bottle 26 are threaded. Theneck portion 16 is welded or brazed to the wall 6 of the reservoir 4 orcan be formed integrally therewith. The supply bottle 26 is threadedinto the neck of the reservoir in a conventional manner and sealed atthe base of the neck 16 by means of gasket 20 or other suitable sealingmeans. As indicated, the inner wall 12 of the applicator 2 is coveredwith a paint absorbent felt material 30 which is secured to the outersurface of the inner wall 12 and ends of the reservoir 4 by adhesive orother suitable means.

As shown in the drawings in FIGS. 1, 2 and 6, a portion of the reservoir28 extends from the main portion at an angle to form a generallyL-shaped cross section. The applicator in these Figures is suitable forpainting a window sash. The ends 32 of the felt covering the end wallsof the reservoir 28 are impregnated with a glue or other substance whichdries so as to render that portion of the felt impermeable to paint orwhatever particular coating liquid is employed. The ends 32 of the flet30 are impregnated to a depth sufficient to prevent the paint fromflowing to the portions of the end 32' of the felt 30 thatordinarilywould come into contact with the windowpane. Only an amount of glue orthe like sufficient to prevent the paint from penetrating the endportion is employed. If excess is used it will tend to stiffen the felt30 and prevent it from conforming to the contours of the surface coated.Any conventional glue which will impregnate the felt and dry so as toprevent penetration of paint in that region is suitable provided onlythat it not dissolve or soften in the presence of the paint orparticular coating liquid being applied. The felt 30 on the inner wall12 is sufficiently thick to allow it to readily conform to the surfacepainted as shown in FIGS. 4, and 6. In FIG. 6, the sash 34 may bepainted rapidly without fear. of having paint smear onto the window pane36 and cover the sash 34 to immediately adjacent the point at which thesash 34 and the pane 36 meet. The pane 36 is sealed in place by theglazing compound 38.

In FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 there is shown a further embodiment of an applicatoraccording to the present invention which has different cross-sectionalshape to the reservoir for utilization in painting the window mullions.In this case, the reservoir indicated at 44 comprises two side portions45 and 48 depending from a central portion 50 to form aninverted'U-shaped cross section. The felt 51 is impregnated with glue atthe end portions 52 covering the end walls of the applicator to renderthe end portions 52 of the felt 51 impermeable to paint. The neckportion is indicated generally at 46 and is of the same construction asin the previous embodiment. The window mullion 54 is shown in FIG. 4supporting glass pane 56 in conjunction with glazing compound 58. Asshown, the felt 51 of the applicator conforms to the cross sectionalshape of the mullion and the impenneable areas 52 prevent the paint fromflowing onto the glass pane 56.

' voir 4 and through the apertures 14 in the inner wall 12 to saturatethe felt material 30 except for those areas 32 which have beenimpregnated with the glue-like substance to render the area impermeableto the paint. The applicator 2 is-then pressed against the surface to bepainted, the glue impregnated end areas 32 coming into contact with thesurface which is not to be painted.

- In the foregoing embodiments, two general shapes of the reservoirportion of the applicator have been shown, however, it is readilyapparent that many modifications are possible to adapt the applicator tothe most generally encountered types of structures. It has been foundthat for most projects a selection of three or four different shapes isvery adequate since the thickness of the felt applicator allows a singleapplicator shape to adapt to a variety of cross sectional shapes. Whenapplication of the paint or'other liquid coating is finished, theapplicator is rinsed out with water in the case of latex paint or anappropriate solvent in the case of an oil-base paint, or other coatingmaterial such as lacquer, varnish, and the like.

While the invention has been explained by a detailed description ofcertain specific embodiments, it is understood that variousmodifications and substitutions can be made in any of them within thescope of the appended claims which are intended also to includeequivalents of such embodiments.

What is claimed is: 1. An applicator for applying a liquid coating to asubstrate, said applicator comprising a reservoir for a liquid coatingmaterial, said reservoir comprising an outer wall, an inner wall spacedfrom said outer wall, side walls, and end walls, said inner wall havingapertures formed therein, a surface conformable liquid coating materialfelt absorbent pad secured to the outer surfaces of said inner wall andsaid end walls, the portions of said pad covering said end walls beingmade impenetrable by said liquid coating material by impregnating saidportions with an amount of glue just sufficient that when it dries saidglue renders said portions impervious to said liquid coating materialand said end portions remain readily conformable to surface variationson said substrate, and means for placing said reservoir in communicationwith a supply container for said liquid coating material.

2. An applicator as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means for placingsaid reservoir in communication with said supply container comprises aneck opening at one end into said reservoir through said outer wall andhaving internal threads at the other end, and said supply container hasan externally threaded neck adapted to be removeably attached to saidneck opening into said reservoir.

3. An applicator as claimed in claim 2 wherein said reservoir isgenerally L-shaped in cross section.

4. An applicator as claimed in claim 2 wherein said reservoir isgenerally inverted U-shaped in cross section.

' 5. An applicator as claimed in claim 1 wherein said

1. An applicator for applying a liquid coating to a substrate, saidapplicator comprising a reservoir for a liquid coating material, saidreservoir comprising an outer wall, an inner wall spaced from said outerwall, side walls, and end walls, said inner wall having apertures formedtherein, a surface conformable liquid coating material felt absorbentpad secured to the outer surfaces of said inner wall and said end walls,the portions of said pad covering said end walls being made impenetrableby said liquid coating material by impregnating said portions with anamount of glue just sufficient that when it dries said glue renders saidportions impervious to said liquid coating material and said endportions remain readily conformable to surface variations on saidsubstrate, and means for placing said reservoir in communication with asupply container for said liquid coating material.
 2. An applicator asclaimed in claim 1 wherein said means for placing said reservoir incommunication with said supply container comprises a neck opening at oneend into said reservoir through said outer wall and having internalthreads at the other end, and said supply container has an externallythreaded neck adapted to be removeably attached to said neck openinginto said reservoir.
 3. An applicator as claimed in claim 2 wherein saidreservoir is generally L-shaped in cross section.
 4. An applicator asclaimed in claim 2 wherein said reservoir is generally inverted U-shapedin cross section.
 5. An applicator as claimed in claim 1 wherein saidreservoir is generally L-shaped in cross section.
 6. An applicator asclaimed in claim 1 wherein said reservoir is generally inverted U-shapedin cross section.